69传媒

English Learners

Why Teachers of English Learners With Disabilities Need Specialized Training

By Ileana Najarro 鈥 June 25, 2024 3 min read
Classroom materials show the days of the week and months of the year in Spanish in a dual-language class at UCLA Community School.
  • Save to favorites
  • Print
Email Copy URL

English learners who are also identified as students with disabilities experience unique needs in K-12 schools鈥攁nd their teachers need specialized, interdisciplinary training, experts say.

This dual-identified student cohort accounted for 15.8 percent of the total English-learner population in fall 2021, according to the updated federal data. 69传媒 with disabilities, in general, represented 14.7 percent of total public school enrollment that same year.

At Education Week鈥檚 June 20 K-12 Essentials Forum focusing on innovative approaches to special education, Lizdelia Pi帽贸n, an emergent bilingual education associate for the Texas-based advocacy nonprofit Intercultural Development Research Association, or IDRA, shared insights on what kind of teacher training best serves dual-identified students.

Integrated teacher training is needed for English learners with disabilities

When working with English learners with disabilities, teachers need to understand how students acquire language and how that works concerning their special education needs, Pi帽贸n said.

For teachers to do this effectively, they need comprehensive training that goes beyond standardized training focused either on bilingual education or special education.

鈥淚t has to be this cohesive idea,鈥 Pi帽贸n said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 an integrated training that equips our teachers with the skills and the knowledge that they need to effectively support our dual-identified English learners with disabilities.鈥

Such training requires a specialized curriculum that combines coursework. It should address how teachers can simultaneously work with students at different language-level proficiencies and those with different disabilities. For instance, what does instruction look like for an English learner with cerebral palsy that comes from a Mexican-American home? How is that similar or unique from another student in class?

This training must also be rooted in cultural competency allowing for students鈥 cultural backgrounds to be celebrated and included in the classroom, Pi帽贸n added.

Interdisciplinary teacher training programs need to be scaled up

Even as Pi帽贸n spoke of how specialized, comprehensive training can better support the multi-faceted needs of English learners with disabilities, she acknowledged a major barrier for teachers seeking to access such training: a scarcity of these programs.

Certification programs exist for bilingual education, and separately special education, but programs don鈥檛 often intersect.

Pi帽贸n, who is based in Texas, noted that Texas Christian University implemented a teacher-training program in the past two years where all graduates have to be certified in both special education and bilingual or English-as-a-second-language education, though such requirements are rare.

Legislators in the Lone Star state did pass House Bill 2256 in 2021 promoting a bilingual special education certificate for the state of Texas, but implementation is still in the works, Pi帽贸n said.

Even as higher education institutions scale up any programming that prepares teachers working with such this intersectional student population, Pi帽贸n hopes such programming is made affordable and geographically accessible to teachers.

Current teachers can collaborate across departments

Educators don鈥檛 need to wait on specialized training to offer comprehensive support for English learners with disabilities.

Existing special education, English-as-a-second-language teachers, and general education teachers alike can strategically collaborate to ensure students鈥 needs are being met across the school day. Whether that鈥檚 through monthly or quarterly meetings, Pi帽贸n said districts need to invest in giving teachers time to come together and share insights.

Specialized teacher training for working with English learners with disabilities also needs to prepare teachers on how to work with various team players, including speech pathologists, English-as-a-second-language experts, and special education teachers, Pi帽贸n said. That includes working together in discussing how to best use emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence tools, with students.

Events

School & District Management Webinar Crafting Outcomes-Based Contracts That Work for Everyone
Discover the power of outcomes-based contracts and how they can drive student achievement.
This content is provided by our sponsor. It is not written by and does not necessarily reflect the views of Education Week's editorial staff.
Sponsor
School & District Management Webinar
Harnessing AI to Address Chronic Absenteeism in 69传媒
Learn how AI can help your district improve student attendance and boost academic outcomes.
Content provided by 
School & District Management Webinar EdMarketer Quick Hit: What鈥檚 Trending among K-12 Leaders?
What issues are keeping K-12 leaders up at night? Join us for EdMarketer Quick Hit: What鈥檚 Trending among K-12 Leaders?

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide 鈥 elementary, middle, high school and more.
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.

Read Next

English Learners Opinion Teacher Tips for Supporting English Learners
69传媒' stress over learning a new language in a new environment can affect their academic success. Proper support can ease that.
11 min read
Conceptual illustration of classroom conversations and fragmented education elements coming together to form a cohesive picture of a book of classroom knowledge.
Sonia Pulido for Education Week
English Learners Explainer Undocumented 69传媒 Have the Right to a Free Education. This Is Why
A landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling protected undocumented students' access to free public education. Some lawmakers seek to overturn it.
8 min read
69传媒 at Valencia Newcomer School wait to change classes Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, in Phoenix. Children from around the world are learning the English skills and American classroom customs they need to succeed at so-called newcomer schools. Valencia Newcomer School in Phoenix is among a handful of such public schools in the United States dedicated exclusively to helping some of the thousands of children who arrive in the country annually.
69传媒 at Valencia Newcomer School wait to change classes Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019, in Phoenix. Children from around the world are learning the English skills and American classroom customs they need to succeed at so-called newcomer schools. Under a 1982 Supreme Court precedent, public schools can't charge tuition to children who are new arrivals in the United States.
Ross D. Franklin/AP
English Learners English Learners With Disabilities: The Rules 69传媒 Have to Follow
69传媒 can't force English learners with disabilities to choose between special ed. and language instruction鈥攁nd other tips from OCR.
4 min read
Photo of teacher and blind student using braille slate.
E+
English Learners Q&A A Teacher Makes the Case for Using AI With English Learners
Sarah Said teaches her high school English learners how to responsibly use AI tools for language learning.
4 min read
Image of the concept of AI integrated into the classroom.
Stephanie Shafer for Education Week